South-East Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand are suffering from haze caused by massive peatland fires again. Although it cannot be concluded that all haze is due to the burning of peat swamp forests and peatlands, the majority of the haze is certainly due to burning of peat (be it forest, agriculture land, or abandoned peatlands) and re-occurrence of fire in previously burnt peat areas. Burnt areas that were not rehabilitated, restored, or managed to prevent fire have become most vulnerable to fire during the dry season. The National Environment Agency of Singapore reported that with the likelihood of an El Niňo event in the central Pacific persisting in the next few months, drier-than-average conditions are likely, particularly from May to October.
Below some news gathered by the ASEAN Secretariat:
Thailand is under attack by another extreme natural disaster - forest fires, which have flared up almost 3,000 times and damaged more than 65,000 rai of timbered land in the past four months. The annual blazes are likely to devastate the tropical forest for at least another three months. It is predicted this year’s forest fires would be the most severe since 1998 due to the El Nino weather phenomenon that brings drought to many Asia-Pacific countries.
Air quality over eastern Singapore worsens with bush fires in the east. The Environment Ministry says the Pollutant Standards Index, or PSI, over eastern Singapore is the worst in the country at 56, but it is still in the moderate range. The PSI over western Singapore is the best, at just 36.
Indonesia’s Sumatra island is cloaked in haze from forest and ground fires. In one of the island’s cities, visibility was reduced to about 300 meters. The pollution index classified the air quality as unhealthy in Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau province. In 1997 and to a lesser extent in 1998, haze from forest fires in Indonesia enveloped parts of Southeast Asia for months, causing serious health problems and traffic hazards. Sumatra and Borneo islands, which border Singapore and Malaysia, are the areas usually hardest hit by the choking haze, an annual hazard in parts of Indonesia, usually during the dry-season.
In Malaysia fire is sweeping through a massive forest reserve and thick smoke is threatening to reach the KL International Airport, Putrajaya and many parts of Selangor, and southern Perak. Firemen have been battling the bush fire at the Raja Musa forest reserve over the past week and some 80sq km of the 44,488sq km virgin forest has been damaged.
Previous forest fires were usually the result of farmers slashing and burning the land for replanting of crops, or careless smokers throwing still lighted cigarettes into bushes. In Rompin, Pahang, peat fires in dried up swamplands have caused thick white smoke to cover several areas.
Source: http://www.haze-online.or.id/
For sattelite images of the fires:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/
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